July 2017 – Page 4

by Zaid M. Belbagi -Arab news – Having been almost stationary for an hour in a Beirut traffic jam, I asked the driver about the difficulties of working with Uber. Much to my surprise, he defended the transportation and delivery service, claiming it has done away with sectarian tensions and prejudices that are prevalent in the local taxi market. Across the Arab world, the use of new technology in service delivery is balancing market imperfections, creating opportunity and equality. Taxi drivers in Beirut have always faced inconveniences due to the myriad religious, ethnic and regional differences that make up Lebanon’s political situation. Drivers working for companies can expect jobs to be divided along sectarian lines, passengers will at times decline to use companies associated with a specific sect, and often companies will restrict their operations to neighborhoods familiar to them.

The advent of transportation apps has transformed this situation; drivers are allocated work based on their appetite and availability for it, and have only the faceless master of free-market economics to report to. Technology has increased opportunities for sections of society that have hitherto been marginalized or restricted from operating in an economic context. According to the World Bank, different rules for men and women exist across the Middle East and North Africa, and only 17.4 percent of companies in the region employ women in high-level management. Women face difficulties starting businesses, registering properties and enforcing contracts. Gender gaps in women’s entrepreneurship and labor-force participation account for an estimated loss of 27 percent in total income across the region.

But social media has provided a new and burgeoning platform for both formal and informal economic activity to take place. In Saudi Arabia, where 57 percent of university graduates are female, Instagram businesses have created a competitive market among women; stay-at-home mothers are setting up profitable online businesses alongside foreign graduates and experienced businesswomen. The boom has been so great that the Labor Ministry has yet to understand the contribution of these informal businesses on the national economy. In providing a channel for women to successfully impact the world of business, online companies have not only contributed to the economy but are also forcing an increased element of service-oriented delivery and sophistication in the market. In such a geographically dispersed and politically and economically fragmented region, technology has allowed businesses to compete transnationally. Local businesses are able to market their items to regional customers inexpensively, offering international delivery on items that were previously stuck behind borders and suffered from over-regulation.

How Berlin’s Lebanese mafia clans work

adminJuly 14, 2017NewsComments are off for this post

Canadian gold coin Big Maple Leaf (picture-alliance/dpa/H. K. Techt)

The Canadian gold coin is now thought to be in tiny pieces

How Berlin’s Lebanese mafia clans work – by dw.com

A Lebanese organized crime family is said to be behind the spectacular theft of a giant Canadian gold coin – “the Big Maple Leaf” – from a museum in Berlin. But who are the “family R?” German police arrest criminals in Berlin (picture-alliance/dpa/P. Zinken) Berlin police arrested only three men, aged 18, 19, and 20, in connection with the theft in March of the “Big Maple Leaf” from Berlin’s Bode Museum, but the police operation that went with it was far wider. Some 300 officers were out at 6 a.m. on Wednesday morning, searching 14 different properties in Berlin for clues to the theft of the 100-kilogram (221 pound) solid gold coin, whose material value is estimated at 3.75 million euros ($4.3 million). There is no trace of the coin itself, and police believe it has long since been cut to pieces and sold on. The brief police statement on the three arrests (a fourth man was arrested later) added that the ongoing searches had confiscated four firearms, “a low six-figure sum” in cash, clothing, shoes and five vehicles – all of which are now being examined for traces of gold. But while the theft itself was fairly lo-fi – the tools the police presented included an aluminum ladder, an axe handle, a wheel-barrow and a green rope with spring hooks – state prosecutor Martina Lamb told reporters that the conspiracy was sophisticated and far-reaching, and that the 13 suspects in total were “out of the circle of Arab clans.” They were all “brothers, cousins and sons” of the “R.” family (German law stipulates that the surnames of suspects aren’t made public).

The Lebanese mafia The German media often revels in speculation about the organized crime networks of what are often called the “Arab clans” in Berlin. There is even a new TV drama “4 Blocks,” about the scene. It is unclear exactly how many people belong to the 10 families thought to “run” various areas of the Neukölln district of Berlin (the arrests made this week also happened in this area), with estimates ranging from a few hundred to 8,000 or even 10,000 relatives spread across Germany. Nevertheless, Tom Schreiber, a Social Democrat representative in the Berlin state parliament, who published a 40-point plan to combat organized crime in the city last year, was keen to underline that only a small handful of the members of these families are actually criminals – “2 or 3 percent,” he said. While the networks specialize in drug dealing and prostitution, they are not above the occasional spectacular robbery. In 2009, for instance, thieves broke into Germany’s most famous department store – the KaDeWe in western Berlin – and got away with some 7 million euros worth of jewelry, which has never been recovered. “Up until now, they almost never found the loot, and they won’t find the gold this time,” said Ralph Ghadban, a Lebanese social worker turned author who has researched Berlin’s organized crime networks. “And if the people end up in prison for a few years – if they get 3.7 million euros – it’ll have been worth it.”